Nineteen organisations have signed up to work together to produce a plan for action on climate change.
A consortium of 19 Australian organisations have affirmed their commitment to collaboratively develop a framework for action on reducing the health sector’s impact on climate change.
In a joint statement released this week, they revealed their plan to develop a roadmap involving “meaningful and demonstratable actions” to create models of care with a lower emissions footprint, while ensuring that the health workforce will lead the sector’s response and that patients remain involved in making decisions related to their care.
“This historic joint statement underpins a more resilient and responsive health system to address the impacts of climate change. It focuses the health sector on reducing its own contribution to climate change while preparing to tackle the challenges of our changing climate,” said Ged Kearny, assistant minister for health and aged care and the assistant minister for Indigenous health.
The statement, led by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, the interim Australian Centre for Disease Control, and the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges, comes after Minister Kearny released Australia’s first national health and climate strategy at the 28th United Nations Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai late last year.
The strategy highlights the role medical colleges have in training the next generation of doctors, putting the bulk of the responsibility on the younger end of the workforce.
“The Commission, the interim CDC and Australian medical colleges are committed to supporting clinicians to deliver high-value care that protects and promotes health in a changing climate. This includes training and supporting clinicians, particularly junior doctors, to request only appropriate tests and treatments and prescribe medicines safely and appropriately,” the joint statement read.
“We also recognise that clinicians have a role in advocating for sustainability and supporting communities to move to a clean energy future in an equitable way.”
Seventeen medical colleges have endorsed the statement, including the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association, and the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators.
Estimates suggest the Australian healthcare system accounts for roughly 5% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking to HSD’s sister publication The Medical Republic after the launch of the national health and climate strategy last year, Dr Kate Wylie, an Adelaide-based GP and executive director of Doctors for the Environment Australia, acknowledged the need for health professionals to play an active role in reducing the sector’s emissions but felt the federal government needed to take more significant action.
“The health sector is Australia’s biggest employer … for this strategy to work on the ground, we’re going to need buy-in from health professionals,” she said.
“[But] for the government to truly realise this vision, it needs to stop making the problem worse. Australia has approved new coal mines with an additional 110 more gas and coal mines in the pipeline.
“The Australian government must stop its two-faced approach to climate action and phase out fossil fuels if it’s serious about protecting lives.”
The full statement, along with the complete list of endorsing organisations, is available on the Commission’s website.